The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

Chapter 379 - Differences

            Zaos used an enhanced version of Cleanse and dispersed the attack before he dashed toward Xergoron. The creature didn't try to outspeed Zaos. Instead of that, and he just used his wings to block the attack, but soon he regretted doing that too soon. Zaos enhanced his sword with electricity and then attacked the creature. Even though his sword didn't cut the wind, the electricity shocked the demon, and he trembled all over for several seconds. When steam began to leave his body, the creature jumped backward. However, Zaos chased him once again.

          The demon realized that blocking the sword strike wouldn't do him any good, so he tried to jump to the side and then spread its wings before flying. Zaos wouldn't let that thing escape now, so he summoned several Earth Swords and fired them toward the wings. The demon moaned in pain when despite its magic, the swords still cut the thin spots of the wings more than a little bit and opened holes in them.

              Zaos swung his sword, and the demon was forced to block the attack with both hands to decrease the damage. While he was being shocked, the demon realized that Zaos was stronger in all senses. That is why his first action had been to escape and then contact his allies, but he didn't expect that Zaos would be able to overpower him like that.

"Answer the question… What are you?" Zaos asked.

"Just one of many others who will torment you," The demon said. "Don't worry, we will return in high numbers and take what is rightfully ours. You and your leader won't be able to stop our ascension."

"What are you talking about? I don't receive orders from anyone…" Zaos frowned. "What are your goals? What is this ascension you speak of?"

          The demon only smiled viciously, and Zaos understood that he wouldn't obtain the answers he wanted. He tried to use Evil Eyes, but the demon only felt delighted while he was being tormented physically and mentally. In the end, Zaos cut his throat and waited until the creature's presence disappeared completely. Zaos opened his eyes widely when the appearance of the demon began to change… after a couple of seconds, the red ski, the wings, and the pointy ears disappeared, and Zaos could only see a dead bald man… Meriton Melvins.

"Shit… he turned back," Zaos said.

            Zaos didn't check the other creatures, but if they all turned back, then no one would be able to realize that weird creatures had been ruling the city for the last few months. Zaos would only be declared as the killer of a decent ruler…

            At first, Zaos thought of cremating the body, but that wouldn't change anything. It was hard to say if the demons left the other members of the Melvins family alive, but… it didn't matter. Zaos decided that the poor man at least deserved a proper burial.

              After seeing torches in the distance approaching, Zaos fled from that location. While he didn't know how to erase his footsteps, he had thought of a new trick for that kind of situation… he headed toward the forest in the North and then jumped to land in the branches of a tree. He left the area by heading toward the East side of the forest just by jumping from branch to branch. He could only do that thanks to this magic, though.

            One hour later, Zaos was back in their room in the inn, and he found Aleni sitting on her bed amidst the darkness. The city outside was pretty noisy since they were checking what happened, so no one noticed their movements. In any case, she had brought many boxes that had books in them. It will be hard to hide those from the couple that runs the inn.

"It seems you succeeded on your task," Zaos said and then put Milliendra on her bed.. "I am sure this will help us."

"... What were those things?" Aleni asked.

"I would say that they probably are the first generation of the magic race that followed the demon god," Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "They had human-like mana like us, but it seems they found another source of power and that source of power made them look like that."

            That explained why the demon god received that title. He was probably a member of the magic race who obtained crazy powers, and his appearance changed a lot thanks to it. In any case, what that guy said bothered Zaos… he wasn't following any orders, but he said that he had a leader. There was that voice that told Zaos to protect Milliendra, but aside from that, he didn't hear anything. Putting that request aside, Zaos was protecting Milliendra by his own volition.

"Since someone who can revive the demon god finally was born, it seems that his followers can take the bodies of certain individuals," Zaos added. "I thought that only assassins and the soldiers of the Sairus kingdom would be our enemies… but I was wrong."

            Zaos had planned to lecture Aleni and make her understand by hand chops the meaning of teamwork. Still, this other matter was really bothering him. Aleni told him later that none of the other creatures in the house got in her way and according to her count, around ten of those escaped. None of them seemed like the actual residents of the mansion or those who worked for the family… which made Zaos realize that those people came from several places. So, the only thing connecting them would be the gift of the demon god.

"The individuals who are born with that aptitude are hunted in the Sairus kingdom, but it seems that here things are different…" Zaos thought.

          Many things could explain that, but Zaos will have to research that later.. For the time being, it was time to see the data that the real Meriton Melvins obtained over the years in his research regarding magic weapons and magic tools.